Disney After Hours at Magic Kingdom Park – 10 Reasons We Love This Event and Why It’s Worth the Money

Disney After Hours events have been around for many years, and they are one of those extra experiences we recommend. While we’ve enjoyed After Hours at EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the last several years, it has been a few years since we experienced After Hours at Magic Kingdom. We sent two testers, our son and his girlfriend (this was her first visit), to see if they could enjoy and get as much done (or more) during the few hours of the event as an entire day during regular business hours. Did they accomplish this goal? Keep reading below to learn more.

1 – Disney After Hours at Magic Kingdom Park

Disney After Hours is a separate ticket event that began in April 2016. Offered on select nights throughout the year, guests pay to have access to over twenty-five attractions with little to no crowds in the Magic Kingdom Park. The Disney After Hours events are also offered at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and EPCOT. The events have proven very popular, and dates often sell out. Our event was on Monday, February 10, 2025, and it was not sold out.

Unlike the Halloween or Christmas Parties, no holiday or special theme exists. The biggest draws for the holiday parties are the decorations and costumes, the generally amazing holiday atmosphere, and the top-notch entertainment. The theme of Disney After Hours is more about “open late with next to no lines.” If you’ve ever been to a sold-out holiday party, you know that holiday parties are not about short lines. If anything, crowds are often heavier than during the day.

If your goal for the evening is to experience as many attractions as possible, then the Disney After Hours event might be exactly what you’re looking for. We are always pleasantly surprised that the wait times are really that low and happy that Disney delivers on that promise. More on that in a bit.

2 – 2025 Dates & Event Hours

In 2025, the Disney After Hours events run from January through May 2025. Unlike Hollywood Studios and EPCOT, you won’t find dates in the summer or early fall. See below for the dates of the events in 2025.

3 – Pre-Event Game Plan – Arrive at 7:00 pm

The event runs from 10 pm to 1 am, but you may enter Magic Kingdom as early as 7:00 pm. We really encourage you to do so. We recommend you use this time to enjoy the Magic Kingdom attractions and/or fireworks (Happily Ever After) that will not be available during the event hours, particularly if this is the one time you’ll be visiting Magic Kingdom during your vacation!

On the night of our event, Magic Kingdom experienced a major power outage with over twenty attractions down at one point beginning around 6:30 pm. Thankfully, the time before the event was not wasted between meeting Mickey, watching the fireworks at 8:00 pm, and enjoying a few attractions that were still open with short wait times. With the exception of Space Mountain (which reopened around 10:30 pm), all other attractions were up and running again at the start of the event.

Future Event Tip: When arriving at Magic Kingdom, there are special areas to enter with the event ticket. We received a special party wristband to wear throughout the evening. If you are already in Magic Kingdom that day you do not need to exit the park to get your party wristband. There are check-in locations around the park where guests already in the park can scan their event tickets and get the wristband for the event. Ask a Cast Member for exact locations.

4 – Ice Cream, Popcorn, and Select Beverages Included

The Halloween Party gives out candy, and the Christmas Party has complimentary cookies and hot chocolate. Disney After Hours includes complimentary treats during the party as well. We always take advantage of this all night, and it’s an awesome benefit of the event. Available treats include ice cream novelties like the Mickey Bar and Mickey Ice Cream sandwich (both $6.50), popcorn ($5.69), and bottled beverages such as Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite (all $5.50), and Dasani water ($4) and they are included in the cost of your ticket.

Our testers certainly ate and drank more than we normally would if they had to pay for these items. This event benefit is a great bonus that helps partially offset the ticket price. If you’re a fan of Mickey Bars and popcorn, this is a significant added value for the event. Much like how the Dining Plan allows many people to actually enjoy eating in the parks because they are not so worried about the cost at that moment, these complimentary treats are a fun bonus, and there’s nothing quite like enjoying a Mickey Bar near Cinderella Castle.

5 – Open Attractions

Like the other parties, a limited number of attractions are available to enjoy during the evening. Here is the full list of attractions open during the Disney After Hours event. Note that open attractions are subject to change.

Main Street USA

• • Meet Mickey Mouse at Town Square Theater
  • Plenty of PhotoPass photographers are on hand to take photos on Main Street and in front of Cinderella Castle with no crowds in the background!

Adventureland

• • The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
  • Jungle Cruise
  • Pirates of the Caribbean
  • Swiss Family Treehouse
  • Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room

Frontierland

• • Country Bear Musical Jamboree

Liberty Square

• • Haunted Mansion

Fantasyland

• • The Barnstormer
  • Dumbo the Flying Elephant
  • “it’s a small world”
  • Mad Tea Party
  • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
  • Meet Ariel in Her Grotto
  • Mickey’s PhilharMagic
  • Peter Pan’s Flight
  • Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
  • Princess Fairytale Hall
  • Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
  • Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid

Tomorrowland

• • Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
  • Space Mountain
  • Tomorrowland Speedway
  • Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover
  • TRON Lightcycle / Run

Bonus: Disney Enchantment Nighttime Spectacular is offered as a bonus entertainment offering at 11:00 pm. This fireworks show was shown during the 50^th Anniversary celebration and is now only offered during Disney After Hours at Magic Kingdom.

Note that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was not offered during the event, but it has been in the past. Keep an eye out for future events; we’re hoping it gets added back in. Also, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Astro Orbiter were closed for refurbishment. 

6 – Short Wait Times?

For our event, the park closed at 10:00 pm. We noticed it took about 10-20 minutes for regular guests to be filtered out from the high-demand attractions. That being said, at the event start, seven attractions had a wait time of five minutes, five had a wait of 10 minutes, one had a wait time of 13 (which is really code for a walk-on), two for fifteen minutes, one at 20 minutes, and then the big three wait times were 40-70 minutes. However, by 10:15 pm, the wait times were even better, and TRON had gone down from 70 minutes to 40 minutes, and by 10:25, it was down to a 20-minute wait. By 10:17 pm, Peter Pan’s Flight was down to 5 minutes and stayed there for the rest of the night.

Below, you’ll find the wait times at 10:00 pm, exactly at the start of the event.

When Disney promises “short” wait times, what does that really mean? Is 15 minutes a short wait? Or 30 minutes when the wait for Mine Train is usually an hour? We have found that for Disney After Hours events, because they limited the number of tickets sold, “short” wait times mean that you usually walk onto the rides with “waits” of less than a few minutes, if that. Only a handful of the most popular attractions, like Mine Train and TRON, had wait times of 20-35 minutes; however, by the end of the night, they were also a walk on.

Below, you’ll find the wait times at 11:14 pm.

7 – Getting So Much Done

What can you accomplish in three hours when you can walk onto every attraction? So much. In that time, our testers rode every they wanted, took multiple photos on Main Street USA, had plenty of snacks, and even went shipping. They did not rush, and they accomplished more than they could have during an entire day during normal operating hours.

Here is a list of everything our two testers enjoyed. Since one of them was enjoying their first visit, they focused on doing as many things as possible without rushing and so didn’t do anything twice. They also noted the posted wait time and how long it actually took, which you can see was even lower in many cases.

From 7:00–10:00 pm:

During Event Hours 10:00 pm-1:00 am:

* The wait times for regular park hours noted above were those from Monday, February 10, the event day.

During the event, they enjoyed snacks and even went shopping and still enjoyed nine attractions, two of which normally have consistent wait times close to an hour and one that is usually 1.5 hours long. They enjoyed walking on six times, had one 5-minute wait, one 7-minute wait (code for walk-on), and the longest they actually waited in line was only 11 minutes. Keep in mind, even if you pay for Lightning Lane, whether it’s Premier Pass, Single Pass, or Multi Pass, you still have to wait in the Lightning Lane, where you usually wait anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to ride. So, these wait times and walking on so many attractions during the event are even better than having any of the Lightning Lane passes.

Here’s another way to look at it. Let’s assume it’s a regular day. After riding Mine Train with a 60-minute plus wait, you head over to the Peter Pan’s Flight, which is usually about a 45–60-minute wait. Then you head over to Space Mountain, which also usually has about a 45-60-minute wait. On a normal day, the combined wait times for those three attractions range from 2.5-3 hours. During the event, the combined wait time for those three attractions is only about 15 minutes (and we’re rounding up). Add in the 6-minute wait at TRON compared to the 75-120 wait during the day, and you see just how much time you can save. We hope you see the possibilities here. Even the time to walk to different areas of the park is reduced because you don’t have to fight the crowds. The value of this party is the ability to get dozens of attractions done in a dramatically less amount of time. 

8 – You Do Need to Be a Night Owl

A final consideration in whether or not this party is right for you and your family is the ability to stay up late! West Coasters definitely have an advantage here! This event is perfect for guests who enjoy staying up late and can sleep in the next day. While they still saw plenty of strollers and young children, it may be difficult for families that have younger children who are not used to staying up late.

The event ended at 1:00 am; however, guests can still get photos on Main Street. Many guests end up leaving around 1:30 am, and some even near 2 am. Then, you have to figure in the 20-30 minutes it takes to get back to the TTC or your resort. That’s unbelievably late! To fully take advantage of the event, you’ll want to plan to stay to the very end. Plan on a very late night.

Future Event Tip: Plan on a late start in the morning after the party. Try to sleep in. Have a late breakfast. Don’t have an 8:00 am breakfast reservation. Everyone in your party will thank you for it!

9 – Pricing and Value

At first glance, $175-$185 seems like a lot of money for an extra ticketed event. But it’s right in line with ticket pricing for Magic Kingdom and its special events. The Halloween Party tickets in 2024 ranged from $109-$199, and the Christmas Party tickets ranged from $169-$219. We also compared the price to a one-day ticket to Magic Kingdom on the day of our party, which was $185 on February 10, and the event ticket was $175.

Finally, you’ll want to consider the fact that on the day that you attend the Disney After Hours event, you won’t need to purchase Disney Lightning Lane Multi Pass, which was $32 for February 10, and the Single Pass for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train-$13 and a Single Pass for Tron, which was $21. So, a one-day ticket to the park, Multi Pass, and two Single Pass purchases would be $251. You would really need to purchase the extras to guarantee you can ride everything you can during the After Hours (see #7 for what we rode during the visit). A Lightning Lane Premier Pass, which allows you entry to every Lightning Lane attraction, was $379 on February 10. This pass is more comparable to what we achieved during the event. However, the pricing really puts this pass out of reach for most guests. And if you could spend $175 instead of the cost of a park ticket plus the $379, wouldn’t you do that? Why spend over $500 when you can spend $175 and get treats and lower crowds?

Our point is that even though we paid $175 for our ticket, it was $10 less than a full-day ticket. When you add in the cost of Lightning Lanes, it’s even more of a value. And even though the event is three hours long, you actually can get just as many or more attractions as a full day at the park! From a money standpoint, your ticket is of a lot of value. And then, when you add in that it’s less crowded, you get complimentary treats and drinks (see #4), and you don’t have to worry about the heat and sunscreen; you may see why it’s one of our favorite ways to experience the park.

10 – Final Thoughts 

We hear lots of criticisms of Disney offering extra pay-to-play events. We understand how expensive visiting Walt Disney World can be and how you need to choose wisely when purchasing “extras.” However, after experiencing multiple Disney After Hours events, we feel it’s one of the best ways to enjoy a park. Again, we cannot stress how much you can experience during this time. The 3 hours of the event are easily equal to 6 to 8 hours of normal park time or more, depending on the time of year you visit, making this an excellent value.

We’d go so far as to say if you have to choose between a one-day ticket for Magic Kingdom and going to Disney After Hours, Disney After Hours wins hands down. You’ll be able to experience so many attractions and characters in that time and get free snacks and drinks!

Editor’s Note: Our visit to Disney After Hours at Magic Kingdom was not sponsored. Two tickets were purchased at the published price of $175 for February 10, 2025.